5 Drafts Later: CJ vs Steven Adams

now it's always pretty tricky to compare a perimeter player to a C

but prior to 2013 draft, and right after, there was a lot of debate about whether Portland should have drafted Adams instead of CJ (remember now, at that time Portland had JJ Hickson at C). So, by circumstance, CJ and Adams were connected

it seemed that during the 2015-16 season, after CJ had assumed the starting role, that Portland had drafted the better player....a player who had a bigger impact on a team's trajectory

but 3 years later, after both players have had a lot more time to establish their identities and display their strengths and weaknesses, which of them is the better, more impactful player and which player has more value

PER: CJ 17.1....Adams 21.5
TS%: CJ .553....Adams .599
winshares/48: CJ .100....Adams .212
Box plus/minus: CJ -0.4....Adams +3.7
Real plus/minus: CJ -0.22....Adams +1.42
value over replacement: CJ 0.4....Adams 1.4

well, pretty obviously it's a statistical slam-dunk for Adams. But as I mentioned, it's tricky comparing players so different. We know CJ can create his own offense, even if it is at a dubious efficiency, and that's a coverted skill. On the other hand, Adams has a top-10 offensive rebound rate and is a defensive presence in the paint, both fairly coveted skills

and of course, the Blazers have Nurkic who is arguably as good as Adams if not better

but that really isn't that germane to which player is more impactful and which one is better. Who is it? and which one would have been a better draft pick?

 

Hindsight 20/20 you take:

1a) Adams
1b) Gobert

CJ as the fallback to these two.

 

Why is this the thread when it should be CJ vs the player that would actually help us:

Giannis Antetokounmpo

 

Well done, you proved how worthless stats are.

 

Christ. I totally forgot that he was in that draft.

 

yeah I know, and I'm always open to slamming Olshey but the Greek Freak was way off the radar for almost every team but the Bucks. The Blazers brought CJ and Adams in for workouts and they specifically interviewed both at the combine

I mean, if we're going to re-write recent drafts into perfection for Portland:

2012: Dame & Khris Middleton & Draymond Green (or Jae Crowder if Green and Greek are a bad match)
2013: Giannis Antetokounmpo
2015: Montrezel Harrell
2016: Malcolm Brogdon (Blazer were smart enough to not trade for Afflalo)
2017: John Collins, Kyle Kuzma, & Josh Hart (or Zach + Kuzma/Hart if you love Zach)

and, we won't even think about what happened in 1984....the draft, not the novel

 

From realgm to here, still expending a shit load of words to bash on cj. Damn

 

I'm not the only one doing it cucad

 

I'll take Nurk over Adams, I'll take Collins over Adams, yes I'm a Homer.

 

Lillard / Brogdon
Middleton / Brogdon
Giannis / Harkless
Draymond / Kuzma
Z.Collins / Harrell

WTF Neil?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!??

 

That would be an acceptable lineup.

 

Have not watched the Thunder much this year, but last year against the Blazers I kept thinking about how much we wanted him as a rookie.....and how much that had changed.

 

Blazers got a gem in that draft and we should be thankful for that rather than always looking for the grass on the other side. You can go back and re-do every draft and find a what if. I prefer to look at the now rather than the past.

 

but if the Blazers get to re-do their draft don't the other 29 teams get to as well? Time to move on to the now.

 

How many teams in this list wish they would have drafted McCollum rather than what they drafted?

1. Cleveland: Anthony Bennett, F, UNLV

2. Orlando: Victor Oladipo, G, Indiana

3. Washington: Otto Porter, F, Georgetown

4. Charlotte: Cody Zeller, F, Indiana

5. Phoenix: Alex Len, C, Maryland

6. Philadelphia (from New Orleans): Nerlens Noel, C, Kentucky

7. Sacramento: Ben McLemore, G, Kansas

8. Detroit: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, G, Georgia

9. Utah (from Minnesota): Trey Burke, G, Michigan

10. Portland: C.J. McCollum, G, Lehigh

There isn't a single player I would rather have at this stage.

 

fine...but this is entertainment here and some people like to play what-if games. Nothing at all wrong with that unless of course you disagree with the conclusions. But that can generate discussion. You can also learn from the past, and draft assumptions can be modified from year to year based upon past performance vs past assumption

as far as looking at the now, maybe now is the time to look at the past....

and seriously, you'd rather have CJ than Oladipo?

 

That was never my question, but let's just say, I am more than happy with our selection as we got a bargain where we drafted. Oladipo has only really had 1 1/3 very good seasons while CJ has been an impact player ever since he became a starter.

 

Polar opposites defensively. Haha.
I'm a 3J fan but Adams is one of those players for me where I think "I like this guy and I like his game." without always considering his stat line. (3J was more like No-J last night.)